Identifier: homeofgodspeople00gage (find matches)
Title: The home of God's people
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Gage, William Leonard, 1832-1889
Subjects: Bible Palestine -- Description and travel
Publisher: Hartford, Conn. : Dustin, Gilman & Co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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awayeastward in unbroken uniformity; at the west is the coast, abelt varying in breadth; and between the two, the countryproper, a broad mountain land, in elevation ranging from a verymoderate altitude to the alpine proportions of Hermon, whichtowers 9,000 feet above the sea. The belt which runs along the eastern frontier from northto south, traversing all Syria from the extreme limits of the-Taurus to the Sinai desert, is not remarkable for any markedgrandeur ih its physical features, and is tolerably uniform inits characteristics, being made up to a considerable extent ofa broad plateau of steppe land, rock and sand and debris be-ing freely intermingled in its formation, and forming an im-measurable succession of high plains, whose effect is manifestin the course of the Euphrates, which has been driven to theeastward thereby, and removed from the immediate neighbor-hood of the Mediterranean Sea. Dotted only sparsely withplaces of fertility, oasis-like, it has always been the home of
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33 546 CAIIAVAN ROUTES. wild, nomadic Bedouin races, who, like Israel in its shepherddays, gain their subsistence by a restless wandering. Ikyingfor the most part from one to two thousand feet above the sea,there are found here, in addition to the dry crntinental cli-mate of the neighboring Heja, a bright sky, hot summers, severewinters, and cutting winds, especially from the north-east.Dryness, a scanty supply of trees and springs, are the naturalresult of these physical conditions, as we know is the casealong the whole southern frontier of Palestine. Yet there arecertain portions of this tract which are very much favored b)^their supply of water. For here is the great route for cara-vans on their way from the Euphrates to AraWa, passing fromZeugma, near el-Bir and Rumkala, southward via Aleppo,Damascus, el-Belka, on the east side of the Jordan and theDead Sea to Medina and Mecca. All along the wa) there isa succession of oases, giving ample supplies of water for theneeds of pilgrims

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